Apple Still Has Its Eye on Smart Glasses

Out of each the products Apple plans to merchandise implicit the adjacent 2 years, nary look arsenic awkwardly positioned arsenic the Cupertino company’s VR endeavors. This year’s Vision Pro, which is $3,500, was an expensive niche product, truthful it makes consciousness that Apple’s AR-focused Vision Group is reportedly making the headsets cheaper and besides releasing immoderate benignant of AR glasses.

We already knew from Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman that Apple was moving connected a less-expensive, little susceptible Vision headset. According to the Apple guru’s latest newsletter, that’s inactive successful the works alongside a Vision Pro sequel. However, helium added the other tidbit successful his Q&A (via 9to5Mac) that the Vision radical is processing a brace of astute glasses, which connected their look could vie with Meta’s Ray Bans. 

The adjacent acceptable of astute glasses wont person a heads-up show similar the Vision Pro. Gurman past hinted astatine these glasses successful February, and it appears Apple’s inactive determined to person a merchandise that apes Meta’s archetypal release. The glasses could nutrient audio and usage their cameras to instrumentality pictures. Those sensors could besides usage AI to observe objects successful the world, which Meta has implemented connected its brace of astute glasses implicit much than fractional a year. 

Whatever Apple’s glasses extremity up looking like, they won’t beryllium a afloat brace of AR glasses. Meta is likely going to debut immoderate kind of AR instrumentality astatine Meta Connect successful September. The latest reports assertion it could person a azygous lens with a projection display. Reportedly, those glasses are truthful large and awkward that owners of the Ray Bans branding, EssilorLuxottica, whitethorn balk astatine applying their sanction to immoderate caller merchandise Mark Zuckerberg and co. are cooking up. 

We won’t spot different Vision this year, but we’re surely seeing the adjacent iPhone. Gurman’s study efficaciously reiterates what we already saw hinted astir the iPhone 16. This includes a redesign of surface sizes. The Pro and Pro Max volition beryllium somewhat bigger, portion the non-Pro models volition get the iPhone 15 Pro’s enactment button. The much costly 16s whitethorn besides person a dedicated camera power with extent sensing, akin to a emblematic DSLR camera.

Next year, the iPhone 17 could beryllium a spot of a changeup. Besides a caller mentation of the iPhone SE, Gurman hints Apple’s moving connected a caller benignant of iPhone, 1 that sits between the regular and Pro models successful presumption of powerfulness and capabilities. Gurman dubbed it the “iPhone Air,” and it mightiness not person the aforesaid Pro cameras, but it volition “[look] overmuch cooler.”

Apple isn’t moving connected a brace of existent AR glasses, despite CEO Tim Cook’s archetypal imagination of doing so. There are a big of method challenges, from value to connectivity to power, and Apple doesn’t yet person the answers to those issues. 

According to Gurman’s regular anonymous sources, the adjacent Apple Vision headset could beryllium released arsenic soon arsenic 2025. We inactive don’t cognize however Apple volition bring down the terms capable portion maintaining the qualities of its micro-OLED displays and analyzable hand-tracking camera array.